What’s it like flying intra-Europe business class with Lufthansa?
It’s better than economy, but it’s not “real” business class. EuroBusiness gives you the same seats, but in a row of three, the middle seat will be blocked out. Apart from the lack of a lie-flat suite, there are lots of positives when you fly short-haul business class with a European airline. Namely the food and drink, lounge access, fast track security and more.
Quick Summary
Lufthansa short-haul business class in short
- Our plane took off late and arrived late due to a delay on the incoming flight
- The Lufthansa team did everything they could to get us back on track, including a very speedy boarding process
- After take off we had a good, light lunch with a dessert and bread roll. A small chocolate was handed out just before we landed.
- Overall, this flight was not worth nearly £800, but we did book this late and one-way.
- An overall acceptable experience. The crew were good, the plane was clean, and the food/drink were as you would expect on short haul.
How we booked this flight
We paid a staggering £758.16 for a one-way flight from Manchester to Frankfurt. Granted, that was in business class and for two people, but it still felt excessive.
The reason for this one-way trip was that we needed to position in Frankfurt for a Singapore Airlines A380 flight (to Singapore). That meant a direct flight at a specific time to give us enough buffer, and unfortunately that meant paying through the nose.
I did try to book this flight with reward points via Singapore Airlines, but there was no availability for the flight we needed, and two months before our departure date we just ended up paying for it in cash.
I did credit the flight to Singapore Airlines, which gave me a miserly 648 KrisFlyer miles. If you’re wondering why I added them to Singapore that’s the Star Alliance member that we’re most likely to fly on.
Checking in
Lufthansa had three check-in desks, but the process was extremely slow. The airline operates small business-class cabins, which means the dedicated business-class check-in desk is often unused for periods. They will instead use that for economy passengers, and it seems like they always end up with a complex, challenging check-in.
It’s the same issue with Qatar check-in at MAN. A single premium check-in desk that gets used as spillover for Economy.
We also made the mistake of asking if we could have luggage sent all the way to Singapore. Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines are both members of the Star Alliance. We had around seven hours between flights, and we wanted to get the train into Frankfurt, and interlining our luggage all the way to our final destination would save us some time and also luggage storage costs.
This delayed our check-in by around ten minutes, as staff members tried (really tried) to make this happen but ultimately couldn’t. This was not their mistake; it was ours in asking, but as it turned out, this was not the end of the story.
Ultimately, Lufthansa have minimal control over some aspects of the check-in process. They fly three times a day to Frankfurt, but they still have to take what they can get from Manchester Airport, which is sub-par on a good day.
We made our way to fast-track security, which you can access if you’re flying in business with Lufthansa and we were in and out in less than five minutes.
Lounge
Lufthansa partners with Aspire, which means that those with status or flying business class will be sent to one of two Aspire lounges in MAN. When we took this flight, there was just one Aspire at T2, the worst lounge at Manchester Airport and possibly the worst lounge in the UK. That has changed now with the opening of a second, larger, and likely much better Aspire.
You can see a photo of the older Aspire lounge below. You can just about make out a staff member inside the lounge, who is about to shout at me as he confused me with another passenger he had an argument with. Not a great start, and at no point did my experience there (which was on a previous trip) get any better.
There was no way we were going to spend any time in the original Aspire. Even without lounge access, I would have preferred a cafe or restaurant in T2. Instead, we headed to The Executive, one of the newer lounges launched by the airport. In that review, I’ll try to answer the question of whether that space is worth north of £60 per person.
The new Aspire lounge at MAN D gates will be infinitely better. The problem with the old one (near the C gates) is that it is tiny, dirty and just a miserable experience.
Our flight was boarding from the D gates at MAN. I haven’t flown from these before and was surprised to find myself going back in time. I’m pretty sure these gates were forgotten about when it came to T2 being refurbished. Those purple seats take me back a number of years.
Boarding
Boarding and then take-off were delayed due to a late inbound flight. That meant we boarded at 11:41am instead of 11:05am.
Before we boarded, we got paged to the gate. Our request to interline our baggage through to Singapore must have been noted, because the gate agent said they had managed to do it. That was appreciated, and not only made our life easier during our short time in Frankfurt but also saved us money on luggage storage.
Although the late arrival was very un-German-like, the boarding was very prompt. We pushed back less than ten minutes after boarding started, and the captain announced his apologies in both German and English.
Sadly, we ended up sitting on the stand for another fifteen minutes, and wheels were up at 12:15, over an hour later than the original pushback time,
Business Class seats on Lufthansa’s A320
These are no different to standard economy, other than the middle seat is blocked out. Airlines manage this blocking differently: British Airways puts a very useful table in that middle seat. Lufthansa just puts a small cushion there.
In some ways it makes very little difference, but having a flat surface between the seats does give you somewhere to pop a drink or a phone without having to use your tray table.
Lufthansa do change the headrest on the middle seat to say “Your Space”, and there were two bottles of water resting against the cushion.
You do have power sockets between the seats in front, which have USB-A and USB-C ports on each one. As they sit between the seats there are two shared between three seats. That’s fine in Business Class, but it might mean some timesharing of sockets in Economy.
There’s a small coat hook at each seat, and the armrests between the seats can be raised. You have a small net storage pocket on the back of the seat in front of you and a magazine storage space. There is no obvious place to prop your phone or tablet.
I was struggling with a bad shoulder before this flight, so I was nervous about how comfortable the seat would be. I found it great; the window seat helped a bit, giving me an extra inch or two on my left-hand side.
The business cabin on this flight was small, with just six rows designated, meaning just twenty-four passengers. The advantage of Eurobusiness is that airlines can flex the size of the business cabin easily: just move the curtain that separates the two travel classes, and add a few cushions and headrests (or take them away).
What was the food and drink on this flight?
Overall both the food and drink were of a good standard, and just about enough to keep us going between breakfast in the lounge and an early dinner in Frankfurt.
There was no pre-takeoff drink, other than the water bottles on the seats. Twenty minutes after take-off, the food and drinks service began.
A steward pulled down the table on the middle seat and laid a paper tablecloth on it for drinks. Our food arrived five minutes later. There was no choice on this flight, meaning they did not need to take orders for anything other than the drinks. For that, I ordered a Diet Coke, and it was served in a real glass, but one that was so small I could finish it in three gulps.
Whilst there was no choice when it came to the food you did have a tiny menu handed to you.
Both the main course and the dessert were excellent. The Caprese was delicious, and tasted freshly made.
The picture above shows the bread rolls which were handed out separately from the tray, and you were given a choice of roll types. The dessert was equally delicious: an elderflower tartlet.
The food and drink service was efficient, and it was all cleared away within twenty minutes. Then just before we started our descent a small, boxed, chocolate was handed out by the crew.
It’s worth saying that the cutlery on the tray was metal, and you also got a pre-packaged wet towel.
Bathrooms on the A320
There is a single bathroom at the front of the cabin, and if you’re thinking that Business Class will give you a luxury experience, then think again. Like most business class bathrooms, it is bog standard. Even most long-haul, twin-aisle planes have the same bathrooms in business class in economy.
Doing anything in here is difficult. If you’re over forty then getting change means you’re likely to pull a muscle somewhere.
Ultimately, the bathroom was clean; it had soap and a toilet. If you really wanted to there’s just about enough room to stretch your arms.
EuroBusiness: is it worth it?
I will nearly always say yes. Ok, the seat isn’t any better than economy (unless you fly one of the few European airlines that do have an elevated seat, like Turkish), but everything else is. A dedicated check-in line, lounge access, boarding first (and deplaning first) and much better food and drink options.
I’ve flown BA Club Europe many times, particularly from Manchester to London. While some may laugh at how “it’s just the same seat but twice as much”, there is real value. It is less stressful, the lounge access is useful, and you can be off the plane before the cabin below it. If you’re time poor, or just want to start or end your journey in a better way, then it’s a sensible option.
The Verdict: Lufthansa Short Haul Business Class
Despite a rocky start (the luggage issue, the late plane) I enjoyed my time with Lufthansa. That was probably helped by us not being in a rush. Our flight to Frankfurt was supposed to land at 1:50pm and our next flight to Singapore wasn’t due to depart until 9:40pm.
Comparing Lufthansa to the three other airlines I’ve flown EuroBusiness (BA, Finnair, Air France) there’s not an awful lot of difference between them. The cabins look similar, the food and drink offering is pretty similar, and the seats are almost exactly the same. I’ve purposely not put them in the same bracket as Turkish Airlines short-haul Business as they have a true Business cabin.
Maybe Finnair edges it for their excellent post-food chocolate. Air France had marginally better food overall. These differences aren’t major; this Lufthansa flight was pretty much as good as the rest.
Ultimately, this was not a bad flight, but it wasn’t worth nearly £800. That was our fault: we flew one-way, and needed specific flight times.
Rating Lufthansa Business Class (Short Haul)
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